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Mother Mary said at Fatima: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the sure way which will lead you to God." St. Thomas Aquinas said: "The things we love tell us who we are!" With that in mind, I will try to post each day something about Our Blessed Lady, items about the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and public domain Catholic books too! I pray you enjoy my ministry! Below are two albums of pictures that I created: 1. Our grand daughter Adrianna. 2. Tears of Mary!
Thursday, June 27, 2013
From Opus Bono Sacerdotii : Ask the Chaplain!
Mary TV Daily Reflection 6/27/2013
The Woman of Revelations 12
(c)MaryMatasso 2012
.
J.M.J.
June 27, 2013
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! With joy in the heart I love you all and call you to draw closer to my Immaculate Heart so I can draw you still closer to my Son Jesus, and that He can give you His peace and love, which are nourishment for each one of you. Open yourselves, little children, to prayer - open yourselves to my love. I am your mother and cannot leave you alone in wandering and sin. You are called, little children, to be my children, my beloved children, so I can present you all to my Son. Thank you for having responded to my call." (June 25, 2013)
On the 32nd
Anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions in Medjugorje, Our Lady presents
to us the entire plan of God set out for us in this heavenly visitation
of the Mother to her children. Simply put, this is the very same plan
that St. Louis de Montfort understood and prophesied in his book, "True
Devotion to Mary" written in the early 1700s.
Our Lady tells us that
she loves us all, with joy in her heart. Joy and love! Are these not
the hallmarks of Our Lady's presence in Medjugorje. Joy overtakes even
the hardest heart in Medjugorje. And love, well, love pervades the whole
landscape, a love that tells each soul that he or she is loved just the
way he or she is. It is a love that finds each of us, where ever we
have wandered, in whatever sin we are bound by, and brings us hope,
peace, and the awareness that we can find our way back to God. This is
the essence of Medjugorje.
But it is the call, the powerful call that Our Lady issues to us ("I love you all and call you to draw closer to my Immaculate Heart")
that St. Louis de Montfort foresaw. It is the call to draw close to the
Immaculate Heart, and thus discover and draw close to the Sacred Heart
of her Son. This process of movement to Our Lady's heart which draws us
to Our Lord's heart is the plan God has designed for these last days, so
that all men can be rescued from the reign of Satan.
As St. Louis wrote:
120. As all
perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to
Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is
that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to
Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus.
It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for
the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is
consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus. That is why
perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration
of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in
other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy
baptism.....125. (3) It follows that we consecrate ourselves at one and
the same time to Mary and to Jesus. We give ourselves to Mary because
Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite himself to us and unite us
to him. We give ourselves to Jesus because he is our last end. Since he
is our Redeemer and our God we are indebted to him for all that we are.
(St. Louis de Montfort, "True Devotion to Mary" par. 120, 125.)
Jesus is our last end.
In these days this truth stands revealed in greater relief than ever.
Our world seems to be plummeting into hell at an alarming speed. All
common sense and wisdom has fled. Man does not know himself. And he is
rushing into chaos. But Our Lady has been sent to draw us into the
safety of her heart, where we will again encounter Jesus, our true end,
the living image of the Father in whom we are made. Her heart, like the
ark that Noah built, has been opened wide to draw us into her safety. No
flood of sin and chaos will be able to reach us there. Safely within
the Heart of Mary we will be united to Jesus, and find our true home in
God. This is the plan the Father ordained from of old, to save His
children.
Thanks be to God for
32 years of visitations, in which this Heart has also been revealed to
us individually as the Ark revealed in Revelations 11: 19 - 12: 1: "Then
God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen
within his temple, and there were flashes of lightening, loud noises,
peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And a great portent
appeared in the heaven, a woman clothes with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars..." Our Lady,
the woman clothed with the sun, is the Ark that contains the covenant,
Jesus. She is the carrier of God's plan for our salvation, Jesus! We are
being invited to draw close to that Ark, and to actually enter that Ark
of the Covenant! Not just to see it from afar, but to enter in. Like
the ark of Noah, we can enter this Ark of the Covenant, and sail safely
unto God.
So, Our Lady reveals
herself as the woman, the one who has been sent to unite us to Jesus, to
secure our salvation which is union with Jesus, through her Immaculate
Heart. All we need to do is enter in!! (Thank you Daniel Sipat)
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Our Catholic Tabloid Frenzy About Fallen Priests By Fr. Gordon J. MacRae
The scales of Saint Michael the Archangel symbolize the balance of God’s justice with God’s mercy. Can the Church reflect justice with mercy for fallen priests?
A few older posts on These Stone Walls keep showing up in our monthly stats revealing new reader interest. Nine months after I wrote “Father Benedict Groeschel at EWTN: Time for a Moment of Truth,” it still draws lots of readers and new comments. Another post, “Goodbye, Good Priest! Father John Corapi’s Kafkaesque Catch-22,” is two years old this week, but still draws scores of readers searching for news of Fr. Corapi. A reader sent me a well written take on that controversy titled “Father Corapi and Praying for Priests” posted June 6 by Matthew Brower on his blog, Catholic Stand. Part of it caught my attention:
“I am aware of some of the events that transpired when things seemed to fall apart for Fr. Corapi and there is much more that I do not know. During those days it seemed like the Catholic media and blogs were spilling over daily with reports and wild speculation. Some of what was reported was no doubt true but it certainly seemed to me we were witnessing a sort of Catholic tabloid frenzy where the line between fact and irresponsible speculation was blurred. I believe very few do have all the relevant facts.”Matthew Brower, an attorney in private practice in Montana, is a Notre Dame alumnus who earned his Juris Doctor with honors at Ave Maria School of Law. His post two years after Fr. John Corapi’s fall from grace is not at all a defense of the priest, nor do I defend him here. That wasn’t Mr. Brower’s point and it isn’t mine. He wrote further:
“Most of those I know who looked up to Fr. Corapi as an inspiration and confirming voice have remained close to the Church and seemingly grown in faith, understanding well that it is God alone we worship and not those he has sent to draw us closer to Himself.”I say “AMEN!” to that, and “Bravo” to Matthew Brower for having the courage to point it out. I have written elsewhere that I became very uncomfortable with the pedestal upon which Father Corapi stood – whether he wanted to stand there or not, I do not know – and from which he fell from grace two years ago with a loud crash. I was troubled by the self-description of so many of his admirers that they were “followers” of Father Corapi. It was a lesson learned. I don’t want followers. I can’t have followers. I don’t recall the specific post, but I remember writing a plea to TSW readers in reaction to this: “Please don’t follow me. Follow Christ!” If ever the day comes that I point only to me and not to Christ, it is that day that I must stop writing.
Read more here: http://thesestonewalls.com/gordon-macrae/our-catholic-tabloid-frenzy-about-fallen-priests/
[ Video ] Pope Francis: The spiritual fatherhood of priests
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Mary TV Daily Reflection 6/25/2013
Pilgrims gather for the anniversary
(c)Mary TV 2013
.
J.M.J.
June 25, 201332nd Anniversary of the Apparitions in Medjugorje
Dear Family of Mary!
With deep gratitude to Our Lady for her presence in Medjugorje for these 32 years, we join with her children all over the world in saying, "THANK YOU!!!"
Today Medjugorje is filled to capacity with pilgrims from all over the world!
And today, we are sending out the transcript of Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti's talk on June 24, 2013, which we streamed, live. The audio was a little hard to hear, and so we want to send out this transcript so that we can all receive Marija's words and ponder her heart, so filled with joy and love of Our Lady, on this anniversary day. It is long!!
Marija speaks at the outdoor altar- 6/24/13
Marija Pavlovic Lunetti June 24, 2013, St. James:
The talk began with the 7-7-7 prayer. Marija said:
We
definitely need it, these 7 Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory bes!! We
all know that in the Church of St. James in Medjugorje, every evening
after Mass, we pray the Creed, 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Marys and 7 Glory
Bes. Why do we do it?? We do it in thanksgiving to the Queen of Peace.
Today in a special way we can say with all our hearts, we can really say
to Our Lady, "Thank you!" And what we do every evening here after Holy
Mass, all the people who know about this prayer, they stay and straight
away they kneel down, and they gladly stay for a few extra minutes to
say this prayer in order to give thanksgiving to Our Lady. However some
people do not know about this prayer, after Mass is over they simply get
up and they leave the church or the church grounds. We have our habit
here.
When
we kneel in the sacristy, we do kind of a favor for each other.
Especially when it is cold or when it is hot in the summer time, we
always kneel on a small pad, a kind of little carpet that we can use to
kneel. Sometimes it is just a little towel. In the shops here you can
get a little pad to kneel on. In the Sacristy with the parish priest...I
have to say that the parish priest is an amazing grace for us because
he is a Medjugorje vocation, he is a fruit of Medjugorje. Not only him,
but also his sister who is a nun! In a special way there is a great joy
in our heart to see them, because they are both fruits of Our Lady's
apparitions. And when the prayer to Our Lady begins they always come to
me to give me something to kneel on. I then say, "Sister, maybe you can
give it to someone else!!" Or maybe I take it and then give it to
someone else who has difficulty kneeling down. And then in my heart I
say, maybe this is a little sacrifice that I can do. To kneel down
without knee pads. Maybe someone next to me needs it more than me. Then I
always see a beautiful smile on the face of that person. And that smile
shows so much love, and that smile is full of love.
And
this is something that I like here in Medjugorje! When pilgrims come
for the first time, they are a bit confused and they don't have
experience. And what we have learned, that Our Lady is here, and she
loves us and she wishes us well. She is here to hug us and embrace us,
and at the end we all feel good, and above all we feel privileged. We
even feel more and more [that we are] Our Lady's children. The heart of
Our Lady is a heart that beats in our own bodies because we can feel her
love, we can feel her joy to be here present with her children. She is
here to love us, to teach us, to change us.
But Our Lady says to us, "Living the way you are living you will not have a future or eternal life."
Then we respond, "We are sinners but we are your children." And this is
something Our Lady knows, and that is why she says to us, "Go to
Confession. Choose a priest who will become your spiritual guide. Leave
sin. Renounce sin and start walking on the pathway of holiness."
She,
at the beginning, began guiding the parish of Medjugorje in this way.
And so many people were saying at that time, "But what can she tell
us??" She speaks a lot, they say. And those who oppose Medjugorje say
that she speaks too much. But we can say she wants to guide us on a
beautiful way, and that sooner or later we will be on that pathway in
her Immaculate Heart, because she wants us to be inside her Immaculate
Heart. She invites us, she loves us and she says to us, "Dear children."
She says to us, exactly as she did at the foot of the Cross with the
Apostle John, when the other apostles were lost, when they were
helpless, she says there is still hope for them, for us, because Jesus,
their Master is dying for them on the Cross. And Jesus said to Our Lady, "Mother, behold your son." And what did He say to John? He said to John, "Behold your Mother."
And we are those who through John receive this call from the Mother. We
also have become the children of God and the children of Our Lady. We
have become what Our Lady invites us to be.
Today,
with her extended hands in today's world, Our Lady comes to us. She
comes not to 1000, or 30,000, or 100,000...no she comes to all of us.
Each one of us is important to her. We are poor. We are poor souls in
everything, but especially in a spiritual way....
We
can't say we began a movement. All we can say is that Our Lady appeared
and she told us to place God in the first place in our life. Maybe you
are sick; maybe you do not have health. You do not have faith. Maybe you
are searching for something supernatural, so that you can feel
something in your heart. I am saying to you, you are at the right place.
Our Lady says, "Pray, pray, pray." You are not here
because of beautiful hotels. There is no luxury here. There is not air
conditioning everywhere here. You are not at the coast, because there is
no sea here! But we are here before the heavenly sunshine, before the
sea of Love with Our Lady, in the school of prayer that Our Lady started
here.
Our Lady wanted this parish and she started giving messages. So many times she was saying, "My dear children, I am your mother." And she said to us so many times, so that we would not forget this, "You need God. Without God you do not have a future."
Even if we have everything in this world, all the material things, we
will leave everything behind, clothes, cars, houses. You will leave it
all behind. And those who have more will leave more behind.
But
there is one thing to know, that if you have everything, but you do not
have God, what do you have? Nothing! God created us in His image, and
without Him we have nothing. I believe we all know a person. Suppose
that person's name is "Stanko". We can say that I knew that person, that
person laughed with me. I knew his hair style, etc. But that person is
dead. Then we say that that person yesterday was driving a car, was
walking, was working, was talking, and now that person is gone. That
person has a body, but the spirit is gone. We also know many people who
are alive, who work and walk and live, but who are spiritually dead.
They are dead spiritually, even though they are walking around.
There
is a friend of mine who shares that there are volunteers who go to
Africa to help. Those volunteers are often very rich people. They come
from rich families. However they are not happy, they are not pleased,
they don't see a future for themselves. And yet they have everything.
Those people are from families which have provided everything that they
needed and yet those young people are not happy. And they say that they
come to Africa to help, and after their experience in Africa they go
home completely changed. One day I spoke to one of those young men, and
I said to him, "What did Africa give you??" And that young man said to
me, "Africa gave me the joy of life." Why, because that young man could
see children who did not have anything but the shirt on them, but they
were happy. They had an improvised ball and that ball was a piece of
plastic. And that was the way that they learned to play football. And he
said, "I played football with them, and I ate with them, and I ate very
little. And I would try to get some sleep, but I would go to bed
hungry. I had pains in my stomach, because we couldn't eat more. There
was not enough. Then I would remember the times I would go to my kitchen
and open the refrigerator, and it was full of food, and I would still
complain that there was nothing in this house for me to eat!! And yet
the refrigerator was full!! Then I understood what it meant to have
nothing to eat. That person came back from Africa and started studying
and working for missions with a group of people who pray. And he works
and whatever he earns, in the afternoon he puts it aside for the
missions in Africa.
How
often are we indifferent? How often do we see those who have nothing,
who have no clothes to put on and we do not think of them? Our Lady has
been saying to us, that prayer and fasting can even stop wars, even the
wars in your hearts...those moments when you don't think about God. When
there is not God in your heart, when we do not think about God's
commandments, and when we do not live them. That is why Our Lady says, "Wake up, wake up from the sleep of lack of faith."
I am thoroughly convinced that the person who starts praying becomes a
better person. That person is ready to serve other people and more and
more that person becomes more sensitive and a person of feelings.
We
see that Our Lady calls us to return to God, renounce sin, convert. We
need to know how to do this work. Place the Sacred Scripture in the
first place in your family homes. Read from the Bible, open the Bible
every day. And Our Lady says to us, "Choose a priest to be your
spiritual guide, a spiritual guide who will help you, who will teach
you, and who will give you absolution in the name of God." And
in the name of God he will help you, so that the name of God will be
there for us in the moment when we need it. And Our Lady says, "Place
the Holy Mass in the center of your life. There you will meet God. There
you will receive God. And with the help of God you will find your
pathway on this earth, in the world, he will give it to you."
We
were children when the apparitions started, and I remember we were
saying that there were so many young people who were lost, and we could
see so many young people who were lost in drugs and lost in alcohol.
That was a time of Communism, and the Communist's wanted to make
everyone believe that God does not exist. I was a student, and at school
we had to learn about Marx and about Communism, and they used to say
faith is the opium for the masses. And imagine me; I had to study all
about this, me, who was able to see Our Lady! So who was right, Our Lady
or that poor man with his ideology? Thanks are to God, Communism is
gone, but unfortunately now there is consumerism and materialism around
us, but Our Lady comes and says to us that our life is temporary, that
it will pass. As the Sacred Scripture says, for those who are strong
maybe they will live for 70 years. And today science says we may live
longer, that people will live to 150 years...But yet, what is all that
compared with eternity?? Is it worth insisting on being here?? Why don't
we do our best to deserve and merit heaven??
I
have to say that all of you are courageous to be here in this sunshine.
I can say that maybe you can say "I will give this as a gift to the
Lord. And I offer this for the conversion of so many other people or for
the healing of so many people who are here in our midst, for the
healing of so many children who have commended themselves to my prayers
who have Leukemia.
I
remember the time when we were young, in 1989, when we wanted to
convert everyone. We wanted to be perfect as Our Lady is. I remember we
wore long skirts because we didn't want to scandalize anyone. And we
were telling people who were not properly dressed to put something on
their shoulders, so they wouldn't scandalize anyone. We could also see
many young people who were far from faith. There were young people who
didn't have faith. So we decided we would found a prayer group, and
every Friday
night we would pray for those young people who are far from God. And
that is exactly what we did. We asked our parish priest if we could do
it, and we just asked for the church to be given to us, nothing else,
nothing more, but just the church to go to and pray. But he asked who
wants to come. We told him, all the young people in our prayer group.
And he said yes. We were so happy and content because we were given
permission from the parish priest. And we started singing and praying
before the Lord. And then I remember we would soon see that it was 3:00
in the morning! We didn't even go to bed at all. Imagine! We were young
people full of enthusiasm. But we were not really ready for this. But
slowly, slowly, we were down on our knees, and our heads were bowed, and
we looked like Muslims, who are praying. And then you could see and
hear nothing, but silence, because everyone was in silence. You couldn't
even hear the birds chirping. As we say here, it was the silence of the
tomb. Then we were all asleep, and we could hear someone snoring. Then
we would tease that person. Then after a while Our Lady said to us, "Bring the Sacred Scripture. Have the Bible with you."
And then we would joke, when someone fell asleep and snored that that
person was profoundly meditating, when that person was actually asleep!
And I remember one person, a man there with his wife, and when he would
snore, his wife would kick him, and then he would wake up and just
continue, "Holy Mary, Mother of God..."
I
always say that the family that has a future is the family that prays,
the family that exists. And as Our Lady said to us, "We are now going to
pray a rosary a day." Often we would be tired at work, but we would
still be able to pray at the end of the day the Rosary. And the wife of
that young man would say, "Ok I will say the first part of the Hail
Mary, and then I will kick my husband and tell him to pray the second
part, Holy Mary...!!" She loved her husband, and she wanted to pray
together with her husband, because in marriage man and woman become one.
And
on the bus that goes from Medjugorje to Mostar, it stops at least 15
times. And everyone knew that this husband was from Medjugorje because
everyone knew that if someone bumped him on the bus and woke him up, he
would simply start to pray!! He was not a fanatic, just a person of good
will, someone who worked hard himself, and who loved his family. And
that is what Our Lady asks of us. Our Lady doesn't want us to become
fanatics. And she doesn't want all of us to become missionaries and to
go to Africa. But she says, "Go to your families!" From the Mount of
Tabor, go back to your family. And do what you can do, through God's
blessing and Our Lady's intercession, that your family, that your parish
community can become worthy of the presence of God. So that we who are
able to say we want God and we want the Blessed Mother in our families
and at every single level of our family life.
That is what Our Lady asks of us. She desires to say to us, "Convert. Change your life! Without God there is no future, no eternal life, because without God we do not have a future." That is why Our Lady says to us, and she is tirelessly inviting us, "Pray!" She has been appearing here for a long time, and she has been saying "Return to God." So often she repeats, "Pray, pray, pray!"
There is time for you when you get back home to play, to shop, to rest.
But the hill where Our Lady appeared is here. The Cross Mountain is
here. And Our Lady chose this country to wake us up again, and to say to
us "I am your mother. Go back to your family and take me with you." If
we start to think with the heart of Our Lady, then we will feel the
urgency to convert and to give witness to all those who live close to
us. We will be worried for our children who are far from God. We will be
worried about our husbands or wives and we will desire to pray for them
and to be an example to them with our lives. Then for them we will be
willing to make sacrifices. We will go even to Apparition Hill.
I
remember a friend of mine who came to Medjugorje just for one day. At
that time she wasn't a friend of mine, but now she is a friend of mine.
She is a very modern person. She really takes care of her body and she
is very much into sports. She works in a pharmaceutical company and she
has a pharmacy herself. And people would come to her and say, "Can you
give us advice. What should we do?" And then on the day of their wedding
anniversary, her husband came to her and said, "I am going to bring you
to Medjugorje." And she said, "OK, but just one day please." But Our
Lady waited for her here. And Our Lady really loved her and changed her.
And she really fell in love with Our Lady. She has three children. And
she even has a dog. Every morning she doesn't go up Apparition Hill, but
she wakes up at 5:00
in the morning and she is an exemplary mother, very modern, very into
sports. But every morning she goes jogging with her dog and she prays
the Rosary. Our Lady didn't say what way, because you can pray a rosary
while you are preparing your meal, while you are driving, while you are
ironing. No one said in what way we should pray. But Our Lady simply
says, pray the rosary. Maybe in the beginning it will be a rosary, but
we will pray without thinking about it. But as we say, eating you learn
how to eat, and we say, praying you learn how to pray. And we are here
to learn how to pray and how to have peace with God and Our Lady.
And Our Lady gives us messages. She says, "Put my messages into practice. Live my messages."
And I say to you - Live the messages. The messages of Our Lady are
nothing new. They are already written in the Sacred Scripture. Maybe
those of us here will never meet again, will never see each other. But
what you have met here and what you have experienced in your heart here
will remain an amazing treasure. That is why I say do not waste time;
make good use of your time in Medjugorje. Use this time in Medjugorje
and pray.
I
remember my own personal experience when I asked Fr. Slavko to become
my spiritual guide. I said to him, "Can you be my spiritual guide?" Then
he said yes. Then I said, "Can we meet? When, where, how?" And then he
looked at me in a really profound way and he said to me, "Ok tomorrow morning at 5:00
in the morning at your house." I was 16 years old. And you know what
young people do at that time in the morning? What do they prefer at that
age, what do they like more? At five o'clock
they are back from the disco, and they just want to sleep. But I never
went to the disco, but I loved sleeping, and when he said 5:00 am,
it was amazing for me. And I said, "Ok...I have this plan...at night
when I go to bed I will put clothes on, and put even my shoes on, and
sleep with my shoes off the bed, a when Fr. Slavko would pass by, I
would be ready with clothes and shoes on! But I have a strong will, and I
said to myself, I have to do it. Not really that I have to do it, but I
wanted to do it. And I can say that when I have that desire in my heart
to be better, more holy, in reality to try to live more and better the
messages of Our Lady, I have lived some of the most beautiful moments of
my life.
When
Fr. Slavko would come, he would begin, "In the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit." He wouldn't say, "Dear one, did you get any
sleep? Did you get enough sleep, did you sleep well?' He wasn't just
talking, as many Italians are doing when they are up on the hill! They
talk, talk, and talk! But I believe in a special way Our Lady loves
Italy, because she sent me to Italy to convert you! No, I am just
kidding. I believe that God in his mercy will convert all of us!
That is why I desire to say with my heart, "Use this time. This is a time of great grace for us."
When it happened to Jakov, the visionary, that Our Lady said the time
has come when you won't have any more daily apparitions, Jakov remembers
those times and he would love to see her now every day. And now when he
meets me he will say, "How was it yesterday - how was it. What was it
like?" And I often will see a tear in his eye. And I ask myself, why did
they stop for him, and I still have them? Why is it not the other way
around? Why was it us, and not somebody else? We have many questions. I
am not perfect, I am not a saint. I am a sinner. But I have a desire in
my heart to be better and to convert, to really become a child of Our
Lady.
Start
thinking in this way: I believe that Our Lady's children will become
better. Maybe we will make a decision and start a prayer group. Maybe we
will be able to help each other. Maybe we will learn how to pray
properly the mysteries of the Holy Rosary of Our Lady, and every day we
will become richer and more content, happier, because God won't be up
there in the clouds in heaven far away, but in our midst. Because we
live as Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am present there."
And we, in the name of Jesus, will be able to start living a brand new
life for ourselves, for the world, and for our future, for our own
children.
Our
Lady said once when we consecrated ourselves to her Immaculate Heart,
and it was during the time of one of the apparitions, and all of the
people were there, and I was in Sicily and one of the officials of the
government in Sicily, when he read the consecration prayer to Our Lady,
Our Lady answered and said, "You won't regret this, neither your children nor your children's children."
I wish that in your act of coming to Medjugorje for your personal
conversion, that through your personal conversion to her Immaculate
Heart, I hope and pray that Our Lady will act and work in your heart and
will be able to say to you, "You won't regret doing this, neither you,
nor your children, nor your children's children." This is something that
I wish for all of you from the bottom of my heart.
And
this evening when I am together with Our Lady I am going to pray for
all of you. I can't remember all of you by name, but I am sure that all
of you are already in the heart of Our Lady. And I am going to pray for
all of you and for all of your intentions. And I am going to pray for
all that you carry in your heart, for all the members of your family
that you left at home. We will also pray for all those people who do not
have the faith or courage to come to Medjugorje. Maybe they are sick,
confined to bed, and they cannot come to Medjugorje. I am going to pray
for all of you and present all of you to Our Lady. I will pray for all
of you. Thanks be to God we have so many priests here. We will ask one
of them to do what they do, to bless us all. It is a grace that they can
do it because we receive Jesus from their hands. And we really have to
pray a lot for our priests. And we have to love all priests. We ask all
our priests to pray over us and for us that they may give us God's
blessing, so that we can live in our hearts, act in our hearts and our
lives with God's heart and God's eyes. (All the priests came and blessed
us!)
Happy Anniversary, one and all!!
Cathy Nolan
(c)Mary TV 2013
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
Monday, June 24, 2013
Ten thousands attend Medjugorje's anniversary of apparitions
Ten thousands attend Medjugorje's anniversary of apparitions | MEDJUGORJE TODAY
The 32nd anniversary of the apparitions is celebrated by great crowds of believers, a local news portal reporting expectations of 100,000 people present. Cross appeared in the clouds during Mass on June 22. Public apparition to visionary Ivan Dragicevic on top of Apparition Hill tonight.
Medjugorje is flooded with pilgrims gathering to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions on June 24-25. Without citing sources, the local news portal Brotnjo Online reports that 100,000 people are expected.
Though this figure is likely too high, Medjugorje being unable to house this many pilgrims, many come from nearby areas which could serve to make the expected number more credible.
“For several days, numerous columns of Catholics from home and abroad have traveled day and night to be present in “the oasis of peace”, once again experience true peace and reconciliation, gain spiritual strength, strengthen their faith, and give thanks to the Queen of Peace in Medjugorje for all the graces they have been endowed with” Brotnjo Online reports.
“From several directions, numerous pilgrims are on the march from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries. Many will hike dozens or even hundreds of kilometers, some even barefoot.”
During the evening Mass on June 22, many among the waiting pilgrims got a special treat when a Cross appeared in the clouds. This morning saw the 22nd traditional peace march from Humac to Medjugorje, starting at 6 pm. At 10 pm on Monday, visionary Ivan Dragicevic will have a public apparition on top of Apparition Hill.
The evening Mass on June 25, the formal anniversary day, will be led by the new Franciscan Provincial, Fr Miljenko Steko, previously the director of Radio Mir Medjugorje.
Spirit Daily is circulating this article
The 32nd anniversary of the apparitions is celebrated by great crowds of believers, a local news portal reporting expectations of 100,000 people present. Cross appeared in the clouds during Mass on June 22. Public apparition to visionary Ivan Dragicevic on top of Apparition Hill tonight.
The statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking Medjugorje from atop Apparition Hill where Ivan Dragicevic will have a public apparition on June 24. Photo: Hrvoje Joe Topic
Though this figure is likely too high, Medjugorje being unable to house this many pilgrims, many come from nearby areas which could serve to make the expected number more credible.
The Cross that appeared in the clouds during the evening Mass on June 22
“From several directions, numerous pilgrims are on the march from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries. Many will hike dozens or even hundreds of kilometers, some even barefoot.”
During the evening Mass on June 22, many among the waiting pilgrims got a special treat when a Cross appeared in the clouds. This morning saw the 22nd traditional peace march from Humac to Medjugorje, starting at 6 pm. At 10 pm on Monday, visionary Ivan Dragicevic will have a public apparition on top of Apparition Hill.
The evening Mass on June 25, the formal anniversary day, will be led by the new Franciscan Provincial, Fr Miljenko Steko, previously the director of Radio Mir Medjugorje.
Spirit Daily is circulating this article
[Video] He Must Increase
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Mary TV Daily Reflection 6/24/2013
I am the Queen of Peace.
(c)Mary TV 2013
.
J.M.J.
June 24, 2013
Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist
The Eve of the 32nd Anniversary of Our Lady's coming to Medjugorje
Dear Family of Mary!
Thirty two years ago,
today, Our Lady first appeared on Apparition Hill. She came to several
young people living in tiny Bijakovici - Medjugorje. They certainly were
not expecting her. They had no idea that she could or would appear to
anyone. It was unnerving, surprising, even terrifying for them. And yet,
they were drawn to this beautiful lady.
Here is Ivan's description of June 24, 1981:
1981,
I was a child at the time, I was 16 years old. I was very shy, very
reserved. And those years, 1981, those were difficult years. It was the
time of communism. Yugoslavia existed at that time, a time without
freedom, without freedom of speech and freedom to express your faith.
Life was difficult. My parent and I worked very hard every day in the
fields, in the tobacco fields and in the vineyards. I got up every
morning at 5:00 am.
Because I was the oldest of the children, I had to be the first one. I
worked hard every day. And every day, in that difficult labor I asked my
parents when some holiday or feast day would come up, so I could rest.
So I could go play soccer with my friends.
And that day did arrive. It was the 24th of June, 1981. It was the feast day of St. John the Baptist. It was a Wednesday.
That morning, like on every other feast day, our parents let me sleep
in a little longer - but not long enough for us to miss Mass. My mother
came to my room several times, waking me up, saying to me, "We are going
to be late, what are you waiting for?" You know how mothers can be!
There wasn't much to think about. I got up quickly, got dressed, and
woke up my 2 younger brothers. We crossed the fields together to go to
church. I went to the 11:00 am
Mass that morning. I was there in body, but I am not certain if I was
there in heart and soul. I could hardly wait for that Mass to end. I
came home. The habit my parents had was to ask me a question. My mother
asked me that question. "Ivan, what was the gospel reading today?" I
will never forget that. And I didn't know!
After that we sat at the family table and had lunch together. And before
the end of that lunch, some of my friends from the village came by and
asked me to play soccer with them. And somewhere around 3:00 pm
that afternoon we went to a field near my home and we played soccer.
And when we all got tired, we started heading back to our homes. As we
were walking back to our homes we encounter three girls, Ivanka,
Mirjana, and Vicka. I knew one of those girls well because she and I
went to the same school. She was a year older than me. But I didn't know
the other two girls well because at that time they didn't live in
Medjugorje. Mirjana lived in Sarajevo, Ivanka lived in Mostar. But they
would come during the summer vacation to Medjugorje to spend the summer
with their grandparents.
And
so my three friends asked the three girls "Where are you going and what
are you doing." They said they were going for a walk to look for the
family sheep. I didn't ask them anything because, as I said earlier, I
was very shy and I didn't talk much with girls. When my friends finished
this conversation we continued on our way to our homes. The majority of
my friends went towards the village. But since my home was a bit
further away from the village one friend came with me so I could quickly
change clothes so that we could go back to his house that evening to
watch television. At that time there were only five or six families that
had color televisions. So we would gather in one of those homes to
watch basketball or soccer. And so it was that evening. We watched the
first half of that game. Ant at the half time of that game, I said to my
friend, "Come back to my house with me so we can have something to eat
and then we can go back and watch the second half of that game."
And
so we went back to my home and ate something, and we were slowly heading
back to his home to go watch the second half of the game, but we never
got there. Nor have we to this day ever seen the second half of that
game, nor do we know the result of that game because something else
happened. As we were waking on that path, we heard a voice. Somebody was
calling us in the distance. "Ivan, Ivan, Ivan, come see Our Lady!" I
heard the voice but I didn't see anyone neither in front of me nor
behind me. The path was very narrow, overgrown with bushes and shrubs.
And since we didn't see anyone we three continued on our way. But the
further along we went, the louder and closer that voice became. And in
one moment I heard that voice, so close, I turned to look behind me, and
I saw one of those three girls we had seen earlier, named Vicka. She
was running towards the two of us. She was barefoot and trembling with
fear. With her trembling voice she was saying, "Come with me, come with
me to Our Lady on the Hill." I stopped and looked at her I didn't know
what she was talking about.
As I
said, I was 16 years old at the time, I was a child. I turned to my
friend and ask, "What is she talking about, what is she saying Our
Lady?" And I said, "Forget about her, she's nuts, let's go watch the
second half of the game!" But she was so persistent and she was calling
us to go with her. And I said to my friend, "Something strange is
happening with her because that is not the Vicka I know." And so we were
slowly walking with her, and as we watched how she was behaving and saw
how she was shaking, we didn't feel so great anymore either. We came to
that place and we saw the other two young girls, Ivanka and Mirjana.
They were kneeling, turned in the direction of the hill and looking at
something. As we came close to the hill, Vicka turned in the direction
of the hill and pointing said, "Look up there." I looked three times,
and I saw the most beautiful image of Our Lady, in normal size, and as
soon as I saw it, I immediately ran home. I don't think anyone could
have caught up with me. I came home, and I didn't say anything to
anyone, not to my parents, nor to my brothers. I locked myself in my
bedroom. And I think if I had had 100 keys and locks, I would have put
them all on the door!
It
was a night of so much fear, a night of so many questions running
through my mind. Is this possible? How is this possible? Was that really
Our Lady? I saw, but still I wasn't certain. And believe me, up to that
point in my life, I could never have dreamt of something like this. And
I never had any special devotion to Our Lady. I had never read of
apparitions and as a child, I didn't like to read much anyway. I was a
practicing believer. I went to church. I prayed with my parents. I grew
up in the faith. I was raised in the faith. I was no better or worse
than the others. But that night that was before me truly was a night of
such great fear. And you know what I was most afraid of? I was most
afraid of this that night. "What if Our Lady comes to my room tonight?
How will I escape, where will I run to?" I could hardly wait for morning
to come. But morning seemed to never come and that night was so long
for me...(Ivan Dragicevic. Kalamazoo, Michigan. 1/31/2012 )
After so many years of
apparitions, we may forget what an extraordinary event Our Lady's
coming was. But Ivan hasn't forgotten. He speaks about it as if it was
yesterday! Ivan was very frightened by the first glimpse of Our Lady.
But we know that he soon came to love her completely. To this day, each
apparition for him is unique and totally overwhelming. It takes him a
long time to emerge from the experience. He says that he really doesn't
want to emerge from it. He wishes he could go with Our Lady.
We gather together to
give thanks to Our Lady for coming to the visionaries and to us in
Medjugorje for these 32 years. She has brought us healing, peace, faith,
conversion, repentance, love and joy! She has drawn us all close to her
Son, Jesus. She has immersed us in the Sacraments of the Church. We are
most blessed!!
Thank you, dearest
Mother, for coming to us for these 32 years. Thank you for blessing us
with your presence. We want to give ourselves to you completely. We open
our hearts to you. We join you in saying "yes" to Jesus. We offer
ourselves to the Father, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and through your intercession! Thank you, dearest Queen of Peace!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013
PS. We hope to stream a talk by Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti today (June 24, 2013) at 10:00 am EDT (4:00 pm Medjugorje time)!! It will occur during our Daily Rosary! So we will pray after her talk. Praise God!! Join us at www.marytv.tv at 10:00 am EDT!!
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world!"
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Spiritual Gems-On the Importance of Desire for Daily Holy Communion- June 22, 2013
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Friday, June 21, 2013
Pilgrim Virgin Statue spreads Fatima message
Pilgrim Virgin Statue spreads Fatima message | The Catholic Key
By John Heuertz
Special to The Catholic Key
The story of Our Lady of Fatima is known to some extent by millions upon millions of Catholics and non-Catholics worldwide, including a Muslim in Kazan who recently built a Catholic church there in her honor.
What isn’t as well known is that statues of Our Lady of Fatima are constantly traveled worldwide to promote devotion to her, and ultimately to lead the whole world to love Jesus more.
And now, the Fatima statue known as the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of the USA is here for stops at 23 different Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan parish churches and institutions in the month of June.
The Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan division of the World Apostolate of Fatima asked that the WAF’s national office bring the statue here, and coordinated its appearances locally.
“I think it’s important to hear what Our Lady of Fatima has to say because she’s very close to the top, and she came here in her great love for us to tell us how we can solve the problems we have,” said local WAF chapter president Dee Harkins of Christ the King parish. “Her solutions were very simple, so that anyone could follow them.”
Her message is the Gospel message of prayer, sorrow for sin and reparation for it, said Harkins and E. William Sockey III, the statue’s curator.
“Our Lady asked four things of us at Fatima,” Sockey said. “To cultivate personal devotion to Jesus, especially in the Eucharist. Not to leave the practice of our Faith to Sundays only. To go to Confession at least once a month. And to never be satisfied to live with even the smallest sins.”
Harkins and Sockey also touched on another key part of Our Lady of Fatima’s message.
“The work she gave us at Fatima is to pray for the souls that aren’t in a state of grace and don’t care about God’s will for their lives,” Sockey said, “and to make reparation for them by offering up all the things that don’t go our way every day.”
In his 1984 Apostolic Letter “On The Christian Meaning Of Human Suffering,” Blessed John Paul II taught that if we are in a state of grace ourselves, we can do penance for our brothers and sisters who are not in a state of grace.
“This is what it means to take up our cross and follow after Jesus,” Sockey said. “It’s also part of how we cultivate that personal relationship with Him, since He did it for all of us” – key ideas implicit in Our Lady of Fatima’s messages to the world in 1917.
The idea of a traveling Our Lady of Fatima statue first surfaced in the mind of a German Catholic priest, who in October 1945 already foresaw Eastern Europe’s political fate of the next forty years.
Bearing in mind Our Lady’s 1917 warning that without repentance and reparation Russia would spread her errors across the world, he proposed to the great philosopher Jacques Maritain, at the time the French Ambassador to the Holy See, that the statue tour Eastern Europe in 1947, Fatima’s 30th anniversary year.
“The importance of the statue is to make people aware of the events of 1917 and the message that God is aware and cares about us,” Sockey said. “The message is that in the end, God will bring everything to a happy ending for all those who trust in Him.”
Two statues were made in 1947, and now eight or ten statues travel all over the world with the Fatima message.
To commemorate Fatima’s 50th anniversary in 1967, Bishop João Venancio of the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima had 25 more copies made of the original 1920 statue.
Pope Paul VI blessed them all during the 50th anniversary festivities in Portugal, and the bishop gave one statue each to 25 different countries around the world – including the United States, whose statue is the one here this month.
There are now over 100 national statues. Some have had adventures.
The Cuban statue is currently in Miami until it’s safe to return home. The Russian statue returned there from here in 2005 after a pious Muslim built a Catholic church in Kazan to house it (many Muslims are devoted to Our Lady of Fatima because the Prophet Muhammad had a favorite daughter named Fatimah).
But Our Lady of Fatima’s message is for all of humanity, not just Catholics and Muslims.
“The reason we should pay attention to Our Lady of Fatima is that it’s a reiteration of the Gospel message of repentance and reparation for our sins and the sins of others,” Harkins said.
“God is offended by sin. We should try to make up to Him for the offense that we give Him.”
Contact the local chapter of the World Apostolate of Fatima at (816) 942-0333 or (816) 478-9039 for more information on the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue’s itinerary in this area through the end of June.
By John Heuertz
Special to The Catholic Key
The National Pilgrim Virgin statue at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. (John Heuertz photo)
What isn’t as well known is that statues of Our Lady of Fatima are constantly traveled worldwide to promote devotion to her, and ultimately to lead the whole world to love Jesus more.
And now, the Fatima statue known as the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of the USA is here for stops at 23 different Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan parish churches and institutions in the month of June.
The Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan division of the World Apostolate of Fatima asked that the WAF’s national office bring the statue here, and coordinated its appearances locally.
“I think it’s important to hear what Our Lady of Fatima has to say because she’s very close to the top, and she came here in her great love for us to tell us how we can solve the problems we have,” said local WAF chapter president Dee Harkins of Christ the King parish. “Her solutions were very simple, so that anyone could follow them.”
Her message is the Gospel message of prayer, sorrow for sin and reparation for it, said Harkins and E. William Sockey III, the statue’s curator.
“Our Lady asked four things of us at Fatima,” Sockey said. “To cultivate personal devotion to Jesus, especially in the Eucharist. Not to leave the practice of our Faith to Sundays only. To go to Confession at least once a month. And to never be satisfied to live with even the smallest sins.”
Harkins and Sockey also touched on another key part of Our Lady of Fatima’s message.
“The work she gave us at Fatima is to pray for the souls that aren’t in a state of grace and don’t care about God’s will for their lives,” Sockey said, “and to make reparation for them by offering up all the things that don’t go our way every day.”
In his 1984 Apostolic Letter “On The Christian Meaning Of Human Suffering,” Blessed John Paul II taught that if we are in a state of grace ourselves, we can do penance for our brothers and sisters who are not in a state of grace.
“This is what it means to take up our cross and follow after Jesus,” Sockey said. “It’s also part of how we cultivate that personal relationship with Him, since He did it for all of us” – key ideas implicit in Our Lady of Fatima’s messages to the world in 1917.
The idea of a traveling Our Lady of Fatima statue first surfaced in the mind of a German Catholic priest, who in October 1945 already foresaw Eastern Europe’s political fate of the next forty years.
Bearing in mind Our Lady’s 1917 warning that without repentance and reparation Russia would spread her errors across the world, he proposed to the great philosopher Jacques Maritain, at the time the French Ambassador to the Holy See, that the statue tour Eastern Europe in 1947, Fatima’s 30th anniversary year.
“The importance of the statue is to make people aware of the events of 1917 and the message that God is aware and cares about us,” Sockey said. “The message is that in the end, God will bring everything to a happy ending for all those who trust in Him.”
Two statues were made in 1947, and now eight or ten statues travel all over the world with the Fatima message.
To commemorate Fatima’s 50th anniversary in 1967, Bishop João Venancio of the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima had 25 more copies made of the original 1920 statue.
Pope Paul VI blessed them all during the 50th anniversary festivities in Portugal, and the bishop gave one statue each to 25 different countries around the world – including the United States, whose statue is the one here this month.
There are now over 100 national statues. Some have had adventures.
The Cuban statue is currently in Miami until it’s safe to return home. The Russian statue returned there from here in 2005 after a pious Muslim built a Catholic church in Kazan to house it (many Muslims are devoted to Our Lady of Fatima because the Prophet Muhammad had a favorite daughter named Fatimah).
But Our Lady of Fatima’s message is for all of humanity, not just Catholics and Muslims.
“The reason we should pay attention to Our Lady of Fatima is that it’s a reiteration of the Gospel message of repentance and reparation for our sins and the sins of others,” Harkins said.
“God is offended by sin. We should try to make up to Him for the offense that we give Him.”
Contact the local chapter of the World Apostolate of Fatima at (816) 942-0333 or (816) 478-9039 for more information on the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue’s itinerary in this area through the end of June.
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